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Traffic was thick. The semi was merging. Frank Yankovich needed to reach the winding ramp from
southbound I-270 to eastbound I-70.

Accelerate. Brake. Boom. Rear-end collision.

Columbus drivers have been doing this dance since the 1960s, when its highway system was new,
the Outerbelt was mostly farmland and the loop ramps that make up cloverleaf interchanges could
easily carry the traffic of the day.

But the number of vehicle miles traveled has more than quadrupled since the Federal Highway Act
of 1956 paved the way for the interstate system. Experts say many of those interchanges are
overcrowded now and force drivers into dangerous weaving.

“Whether it’s in a weave, a straight segment, congestion is really driving the accident,” said
James Barna, the Ohio Department of Transportation’s chief engineer.

Some Columbus-area projects are being designed to replace the loop ramps, Barna said, and new
warning signs are being installed at Franklin County loop ramps.

The problem is that traffic exiting one loop to enter a highway runs into traffic exiting the
highway to enter another loop. That forces braking and rapid acceleration, said Deborah McAvoy, an
Ohio University civil engineer.

“Any time you have a differential in speed along a freeway, you increase the possibility of
crashes,” she said. “It all goes back to this weave.”

That’s what happened to Yankovich, who was negotiating backed-up traffic on I-270 as he merged
onto the loop to I-70 on the Far East Side. The 48-year-old Blacklick resident sped past a semi
leaving a loop to enter the highway and rear-ended another vehicle on the ramp.

“I certainly would say the design is not the greatest,” he said. “I think they’re very
dangerous.”

Barna said loop-ramp interchanges have lasted decades longer than they should have because
building new ramps is expensive.

In central Ohio, eight loop-ramp interchanges are being studied or have construction plans,
according to the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. Four others have been labeled
problematic.

“As development has spread outside of the Outerbelt, those are no longer efficient and no longer
safe,” said Robert Lawler, MORPC transportation director.

Loop ramps were replaced with flyover ramps and tunnels during the $134 million reconstruction
of the Rt. 161 interchanges at I-270 and Sunbury Road. The project wrapped up in 2007.

Crews will start rebuilding the I-270 interchange at Rt. 23 on the North Side this summer, and a
project to eliminate loops at Rt. 315 is to be construction-ready next year.

ODOT will spend $410,000 this year to install additional warning signs with flashing lights at
45 loop ramps involving 25 Franklin County interchanges. The new signs will post safe speeds to
negotiate the ramps, which already have warnings.

“This project was initiated out of concern for the high number of roll-over crashes involving
trucks on loop ramps,” spokeswoman Nancy Burton said in an email.

Engineers say not all loop ramps are problems. Some were built in areas that haven’t seen
explosions in development or that feature more space between exits and entrances.

“The ones that are working will stay the way they are,” said Leo Kutney, a retired Columbus
transportation engineer who now works as a consultant. “There’s no point in trying to fix what’s
not broken.”